Given that he is running the risk of being prosecuted and after the public outcry, the Greek Minister of Health Pavlos Polakis retreated and argued in Parliament that he did not record his conversation with the Head of the Bank of Greece Mr. Stournaras.

However, he did not mention anything regarding his personal loan and he attempted to appear as a victim of character assassination.

Giannis Stournaras on his behalf talked earlier of an unprecedented institutional code violation by minister Polakis, after the recording of his conversation with the minister was made public on Monday by Mr. Polakis himself.

Yannis Stournaras stresses that Pavlos Polakis attempts “in an unprecedented way to influence the way in which I perform my duties”.

He also noted that the competent judicial authorities “must intervene” and urged “the Prime Minister and the Government to safeguard the independence of the Bank of Greece, guaranteed in European and Greek law”.